Life under Lake Superior
by kalathetrumpeter
Summary: Four students are enrolled in the Lake Superior School of Wizardry. Over the school year, they become friends, play Quodpot, unearth a conspiracy to reveal the wizarding world, and most importantly of all, learn not to get caught with a jarfull of Billywi
1. Owl Surprise

Disclaimer: I do not own or claim to own any copyrighted, patented, or trademarked material that may or may not appear in this fanfiction or any reviews thereof. No profit is being made or is intended to be made off of this fanfiction. Let this disclaimer stand throughout its entirety.  
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TAP. TAP. TAP. Troy groaned. "Go 'way" he muttered. "'s too early"

TAP, TAP, TAP, the noise persisted. He cracked an eye open. What in the world was tapping his window at this unearthly hour? He yawned and stretched. As he did, he caught sight of his alarm clock. Nine AM. Okay, not quite 'an unearthly hour', but that was close enough for a lazy August morning.

He blinked sleepily out the window. Instantly, what he saw there jolted him wide awake. An _owl!_ A snowy owl, to be precise. But what would an owl be doing. . .

With another jolt, he realized its significance. This had to be one of those messenger owls, the kind used only by wizards. Though he technically wasn't supposed know about the magical world, he did, from relatives on both sides. However, his immediate family had no magic whatsoever. His wizard relatives would _never_ owl to their Muggle neighborhood. . .

. . . _unless it was an emergency! _ Troy caught his breath. This was _bad_, this _had_ to be bad. He scrambled out of his bed and turned to face the bunk.

"Lee?" he asked. The lump under the covers gave no response.

"Lee!" he snapped, quite a bit louder. There was still no response. Immensely irritated, he marched forward, grabbed his brother's blanket with both hands, and yanked it clean off the bed.

He decided immediately after that it might not have been one of his more brilliant ideas. Troy, who thought that nine o'clock was an ungodly hour, was the morning person of the pair. Lee thought it a federal offence to get up before two in the afternoon, and had a temper like a dragon when awakened rudely.

Lee propped himself up with his elbow and glared at his twin. Troy continued quickly, before his brother could get going.

"Lee, there's an _owl_ outside our window." Troy remained silent for several seconds, watching his brother coming to the same conclusion that he had.

Lee gaped at the window. "Well," He spluttered "Let it _in_ already!"

Mentally kicking himself for not doing so right away, Troy leaned over and began cranking open the window. He puzzled over the screen for a few seconds, then realized how to pull it out.

The owl flew in, dropped the letter, no, the _letters_, to the ground and flew back out. The twins exchanged confused looks. If there were some sort of emergency, wouldn't their relatives want a reply? And why would they send two _separate_ letters?

Curiosity driving out the desire to slay his brother, Lee jumped off the top bunk and grabbed the letters. To his surprise, he saw they were not addressed to the whole family, but to him and Troy.

A sneaking suspicion forming in the back of his mind, he ripped his letter open. As he read, a demented smile formed on his lips.

"Troy? It looks like we're more magical than we thought. . ."

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Matthias frowned in concentration, examining the Jenga tower he had been building for the past twenty minutes. He was nearly to the record height, he just needed to pull out a few more blocks to put on top. . .

Slowly, he reached out and expertly began to work at one of the offending pieces. Jiggle it _this_ way, put pressure _there_, pull it out very, very, slowly, then. . .

CRASH! A white owl had hurtled, seemingly out of nowhere, into his hard-built tower. Matthias started, lost his balance, and fell over, slamming his head on the coffee table.

"G-_reat_. "He muttered, waiting for the little flecks of colored light to leave his vision. "I finally get my school letter, and they send it with the clumsiest owl they could find, right when I'm the farthest I've _ever _gotten playing Jenga. That's just _great_. Fits RIGHT in with my type of luck"

He sat back up. There were Jenga bricks splattered into every corner of the room, and many were jammed into the most unlikely places, including the light fixture, and sticking halfway into the VCR. For a few seconds, he sat in silence. Then the owl hooted (in what he could almost _swear_ was a sheepish manner), and bowed its head, dropping the letter.

Matthias flashed a grin. The situation was actually rather funny. He picked up the letter and slit the top of the envelope open. It read:

_Mr. Matthias Argon,_

_We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted into the Lake Superior School of Wizardry. The school year begins on Monday, September the third. We will arrange a Portkey for you at that time. You have been enrolled in the Epsilon facet, please buy your robes accordingly. Enclosed is a list of the other supplies you will need. We look forward to seeing you!_

_Sincerely,_

_K.R.Tedia, Director of Admissions_

He finished reading it and grinned again. "Dad! Dad! The letter finally came!" He called gleefully.

"Really?" His father appeared at the top of the stairwell. "Come and show me!"

Matthias nodded and charged up the stairs, taking them three steps at a time.

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"Ew, ew, ew! GRAYSTRIPE, PLEASE!" Ro glared at her cat, very much disgusted.

The handsome gray-striped tom placed the dead mole on the ground. 'Meow?" he inquired, giving her a puzzled look.

Ro wrinkled her nose. She knew it was a sign of affection, but it still made her feel nauseated when her cats presented her with dead rodents.

Shuddering, she bent down to pick up the mole by the tail. With her arm extended as far away from her body as it could be, she headed around the corner to the front of her house.

What she saw shocked her so much she dropped the mole. A snowy owl was sitting on top of the trash bin!

She held her breath, not sure if she should get closer or not. Ro had never seen an owl outside of educational displays. It would be cool to see one up close, but she didn't know whether it would be scared away if she tried.

The owl answered her question itself. It swiftly flew over to her, and dropped a letter into her hand

She blinked. Oh. It was a messenger bird. _Who_ in the _world _would send her a message by carrier owl? Shrugging, she turned the letter over. It was addressed

_Miss Rosemary Eagams_

_The messiest bedroom_

_1492 Red Oak Drive NE_

_Pinedale, MN 55231_

A small shiver ran down her spine. _ How would they know about my bedroom? _She asked herself. Her room was famously full of junk. As her-nine-year-old sister put it 'It would take a year to clean out, even if the entire population of New York was working on it!'

She laughed at herself, trying to shake off the weird feeling the letter gave her. She was being silly. It didn't mean _anything _that they knew her room was a disaster area. That was common knowledge

Turning her attention back to the letter, she opened the flap of the envelope very cautiously, as if it might contain anthrax. Ro scanned the letter, then finally broke into a relieved smile. This was just a practical joke by one of her friends, making a jibe at her fascination with fantasy and the paranormal, which was _also_ common knowledge.

She read it again, this time paying special attention to one paragraph.

_Because you have lived as a Muggle (Non-magical person), a liaison will be sent to your home to give more detailed explanations, and to answer any questions you or your family may have. Please immediately reply by return owl with an appropriate time for them to come, preferably within the next forty-eight hours._

Hmm. What was up with that? _ Probably means whoever-it-is wants to know when they can come hang out, and that they're promising to explain the joke then. _She told herself.

After thinking a little, she dug into her pockets and pulled out a pencil stub. She turned the letter over and scribbled on the back

_Great prank! You almost had me fooled. You can drop by around five-thirty, I'll tell Mom to set an extra place at the table. Be sure to explain how you trained an owl!_

_-Ro_

Satisfied, she handed it back to the owl. To her confusion, it didn't take off with the letter. _What the heck!?_ She thought, trying to figure out why it wasn't doing anything. Then she noticed that it was staring wistfully at the dead mole.

"Take it!" Ro exclaimed. "I don't want it!"

The owl hooted gratefully, gripped the mole in its talons, and flew off at last. Just as it did, Ro's second cat, Fireheart, stole around the corner with a rat in his mouth.

"Oh, no" she groaned. "Not again!"

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Hello all! Kala here, and I would like to thank you all for reading this far and ask you for constructive criticism.  
  
Do I not give enough details? Do I give too many and slow down the story? Should I switch the order in which they get their letters? Do the characters and settings seem real? If they are, what makes them that way? If not, what should I change? What was the best part? What was the most boring? Do I have any spelling or grammar mistakes? Am I asking too many questions here?! Even answering one or two will help. Thank you again for reading, please leave a review and help one author improve.


	2. Jonah's visit

If anyone had been watching the driveway of 1492 Red Oak just at five-thirty that evening, they would have seen a young man of twenty-some years striding towards the house. From his confident, springy pace and bright smile, anyone would assume that he knew the family well, and was eager for a visit with his friends.

No one would ever guess that he had never met the people living there in his life. Nor that he was nervously running through what he was supposed to say in his head, worrying that he would be kicked out the door.

Jonah mentally winced at that idea. He himself was new to the job, this being his first real round of duty, but his colleagues informed him that it was no fun to be kicked out upon visiting. It required quite a bale of paperwork. It also required going back time and again, sometimes taking dozens of visits.

He didn't want that. His coworkers were always taking little swipes at his cluelessness, him being greenest member of the crew at Muggle Relations. If he were to be booted out of the house, things would probably go from 'little swipes' to 'merciless teasing'.

It didn't help his fretting that the young witch in question thought that the letter was simply a joke. _That's nearly everyone's first reaction_, he scolded himself. However, no amount of logic could calm the butterflies in his stomach, who seemed to have gotten hold of a forty-eight pack of Mountain Dew. On the contrary, it seemed to make them all the more hyper.

He suddenly realized he was standing in front of the door. He composed himself as best he could, then, hesitating for only a fraction of a second, he raised his hand to ring the doorbell.

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**_Dinnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnng._** Ro's head shot up from the book she was reading. "I'll get it!" she called, scrambling up and charging to the front door. Finally, she would see who could play such a prank!

She wrenched the door open, ready to greet whichever one of her friends was there, then stopped. Instead of a familiar young teen, there was a college-aged man standing there.

She eyed him carefully. He was fairly tall, at about six feet, with a strong build and firm features. He was dressed in nondescript jeans and a dull green T-shirt with no design or lettering on it. His eyes were a normal hazel, his hair was very black and ridiculously shiny (It _couldn't _be that way naturally, could it?), and he had a large, friendly grin showing white, if not particularly straight teeth.

Nothing about him suggested that he was a door-to-door salesman, a child molester, or worse, a Jehovah's Witness. Still, Ro knew that it was impossible to be too careful about such things.

"Can I help you?" She asked coolly.

He nodded. "You're Rosemary, I would guess?"

Ro was taken aback. A total stranger knew her name? Everything she had ever heard about Internet predators flashed through her head. She brushed it aside. She never used her full name, ever. And she rarely used her real name on the Web.

Slowly, she nodded her head. "I'm Ro."

His smile grew wider "Excellent! I'm Jonah Hennipen. May I come in, Ro?"

Ro frowned. Once again, he didn't _seem_ dangerous or anything, but to let a complete stranger in. . .

Noting her reluctance, he pulled a crumpled piece of paper out of his pocket.

"I'm here about this" he said, passing the paper to her.

She gasped softy as she recognized it. Hastily, she flipped it over. Sure enough, there was her own scribbled message. It was the letter.

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"Let me get this straight " Ro's father, who was a large, imposing man, leaned forward, put his elbows on the table and stuck his face a just few inches from Jonah's.

Dinner was almost over, and Jonah had finished explaining everything to Ro's confused and slightly suspicious family. He had not been kicked out. Yet.

"There is a society of wizards," he continued, " which pretty much nobody knows about, even though it has existed for centuries? And they have a school for training young magicians, hidden under Lake Superior, which is frequently probed by sonar?" He sounded incredulous.

"Yes," Jonah replied, pulling away from Mr. Eagams a little, who, besides being uncomfortably close, had a tendency to spray as he spoke. "Wizards have become adept at hiding themselves. If a Muggle does see something associated with magic, there are spells that can . . . erase the memory of it."

"Hmm. . . don't like the sound of that." He glared at Jonah for a bit, looking as if he wanted to ask if _Jonah _had altered any memories. "Moving on, Ro is supposed to be capable of doing magic?"

"Yes." Jonah knew that he sounded a little too relieved, but Mr. Eagams inquiring further about Memory Charms would _not_ have been a good turn in the conversation.

Keith Eagams leaned back. "Well, I guess that _would_ explain a few things."

Ro smiled absentmindedly. She appeared to be thinking along the lines of '_that's the understatement of the century!' _

Kay, Ro's sister, spoke up for the first time all evening "Am I a wizard too?"

Jonah quickly looked down at his roast beef, so no one would see that he was trying, with little success, not to laugh. He had carefully not said 'witch', as Muggleborn families tended to react poorly to that word. It was general policy for the girl in question to pick it up at school, then bring it home to her parents. However, that policy caused some awkward situations. He forced a poker face and looked back at Kay.

"If I remember correctly from the records, then you'll be getting your invitation in a couple years. I think little Nate here will, too." He said, gesturing to the almost-three-year-old.

Nate, who had previously been absorbed in sculpting grand masterpieces out of his mashed potatoes, started to bounce up and down. "Me too! Me too!" he sang happily.

"You too _what_?" teased Ro.

Nate stopped, wrinkling his face in thought.

Everyone laughed. Nate said 'Me too' to just about anything. It happened to be one of his favorite phrases, which was not all that surprising for a two-year-old with a pair of older siblings.

Ro's mother cleared her throat. "What I don't understand is, well, how would these three _get_ to be magical? I mean, Keith and I are both very normal." She paused. "For that matter, how does _anyone_ become a wizard?"

Jonah looked at her solemnly. "Well, that's the question, isn't it? I mean, The Really Big Question. Our researchers have been asking it for years, and none of them know for sure." He took a breath, then continued, "Well, until quite recently it was assumed that magic was hereditary. In that case, your children would be 'throwbacks', taking after some great-grandparent who knows how many generations ago."

Mrs. Eagams nodded slowly. "That would make sense. But there are other theories?"

"Yes. A new one was proposed a few months ago. If this one is correct, then genes do not determine magic at all." He stopped talking, and glanced around the table, expecting to see the looks of skepticism there always were on wizards' faces when this theory was mentioned. But there was none. They were all looking at him, waiting to hear more.

"Rather, when a child is still unborn, they can, by being exposed to magic, become magical themselves. Of course, just passing a wizard on the street wouldn't be enough exposure. But if one of your friends or coworkers, someone you saw frequently, were a wizard, then that _would_ be enough. And your younger children probably got it from Ro."

No one had time to respond to this before they heard a loud SPLACK! They all turned to see what had happened.

One of Nate's potato monuments had toppled. Usually, his culinary escapades were stopped well before he got to this point, but mommy and daddy had been distracted today.

Mrs. Eagams groaned "_Nate!_" and stood up to get a paper towel. Nate stared, crestfallen, at his shattered handiwork. Then he shrugged, and, potatoes forgotten, began to construct walls and pyramids of corn.

Jonah chuckled. One of his nephews used to do _exactly_ the same thing. He recalled all too well the days when he was twelve and a babysitter.

He turned back to Mr. Eagams. "Uh, well, term starts September third, you'll be needing to get her Epsilon-style robes for school. . ."

"Hang on," interrupted Mr.Eagams, "Where the heck are we supposed to get these school supplies? It's not like you can walk into Target and say 'Hello, what isle are the magic wands in?'"

Jonah had a sudden mental image of his straight-laced supervisor, dressed in standard work robes, asking exactly that of a blonde Barbie-like girl in a Target uniform. He bit back a snicker.

"I'm supposed to take Ro supplies shopping. I could pick her up on the fourteenth, I have to take my nephews shopping that day anyway. Or I could just give you directions, but I wouldn't recommend it. The entrance is charmed to partially hide itself, and as you've never been there before, it could take hours to even get into The Ley."

"The Ley?" Ro's dad raised his eyebrows.

"Yeah" Jonah responded "The Ley. It's a whole section of shops hidden in the Mall of America. A ley, that's l-e-y, is supposed to be a 'ground line' of magical energy. Real 'leys' have never been proven to exist, but it's a neat idea."

"Wow." Said Kay reverently "You really CAN get _anything_ at the Mall of America."

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Hello! Kala here. FYI, Some revisions have been made to chapter one, espescially in Ro's section. I took the challenges down, because no one seemed to interested. Ro's middle name is Suzanne, if anyone cares. . .

Thank you, thank you, and thank you again to LNlisa, Sarah29, and Briana Rose for their beautiful, constructive reviews. I love you! (insert big cheesy grin) And Sarah, my friend, all will be revealed in due time. Anyone else who wishs to drop a review is a wonderful angel, though not quite as wonderful an angel as these three.

Okay, I'll quit with the shameless flattery. . .


	3. The Ley

Squeak. Thump. Squeak. Thump. That was the sound Troy's sneakers were making as he bounced impatiently on the ceramic tile of the entryway, and it was driving Lee insane.

"Troy, QUIT IT!" Lee snapped.

"Sorry, Lee," Troy grinned apologetically. "I'm just excited. After all, it's not every day you get your first magic wand."

Lee agreed with this, but he wasn't about to say so. "You still don't have bounce. You're not four years old, after all."

Troy did not respond, but rather, looked at his watch for the hundredth time. "Why isn't he here yet?"

"Because right now, he's somewhere else," Lee replied in a mock-philosophical manner. Then he rolled his eyes. _Troy has issues_, he thought.

Troy glanced out the window. "Hey, he is here!" he squealed

Lee also looked out, and, sure enough, their uncle's trashed SUV was pulling onto the black tar driveway. Trying not to appear too eager, he opened the door and strolled outside.

"Hello, Jonah," he said calmly

Troy, however, had no problem with dashing right to his uncle, still bouncing like a hyper four-year-old.

"What took you so long?" he demanded. 'We've been waiting forever!"

Lee snorted. His brother was usually considered the 'mature one' of the pair, but something had gotten into him today. He hoped it would wear off soon, whatever it was.

"Sorry," Jonah laughed, "I got stuck in traffic. Are you ready to go?"

"Yeah!" Troy practically shouted. "Sorry, didn't mean to yell," he said in a quieter voice. "I'll run in and tell Mom we're leaving."

He dashed back to the door, opened it, and called inside

"MomJonah'sherewe'releavingloveyabye!" He slammed it shut again and ran back to them.

"Okay, let's get going!"

"Now, hon, remember, if this dude tries any funny stuff. . ."

"Dad!" Ro was a little shocked. She had long since discarded any idea that Jonah was a child molester. Her dad, apparently, had not.

"Dad, he's fine! You're just paranoid!"

"Ro, it's perfectly normal for a dad to be concerned about his daughter. . ."

Ro tuned out as her father began the lecture he gave her every time he saw she was on an Internet chat room. He could go on forever. . . .

Just as her eyes were about to glaze over, she spied something out the window.

"Hey, do you think that's him?" she asked, pointing towards a junky-looking Jeep Cherokee that was parking outside.

Keith Eagams stopped in mid-word and looked where Ro was pointing.

"Probably," he said. "How much money do you think you'll need?" he questioned, pulling out his billfold.

Ro shrugged "No clue. Ask him."

Mr. Eagams nodded, and opened the door for Jonah to come in.

"Hello," Jonah said, flashing his customary grin, 'Are you ready, Ro?"

Her dad was the one to reply.

"Just about. Do you know how much cash she'll need?" he asked.

Jonah rolled his eyes toward the ceiling, doing a mental calculation.

"I'd say, at least three hundred dollars. She needs to get a wand, cauldron, and robes, plus potions ingredients and other smaller things. Not to mention she's going to want a little wizard money left over for candy and such throughout the school year. Most wizarding places won't take Muggle money."

"Alright." he said, passing the bills to Ro. "Be careful!" he ordered

As she headed out the door, Ro shot over her shoulder a look of the kind that is only given to overprotective parents.

An hour later, they finally pulled into the vast Mall of America parking. It had not been a fun ride, largely due to the fact that Jonah was even worse at taking care of the inside of his car than the outside.

The floor had been lost in mounds of old fast food wrappers and newspapers, which Jonah had been forced to clean out so everyone could sit. Still, the doors were sticky with who-knows-what, the seats were stained and ripped, and the whole place stunk terribly. It was also infested with strange and slightly frightining bugs that were called 'chizpurfles'. Troy informed Ro that the large size of the chizpurfles meant they had been gorging themselves silly on magic, and that if Jonah didn't get them exterminated soon, they would begin eating at the car's engine.

The hopped out and practically ran into the mall entrance. Ro almost gasped out loud once they were inside the mall. She hadn't been there for a few years, and had forgotten how big it was.

Jonah grinned at her "This place is nothing compared to how amazing the Ley is."

He jerked his head towards a store to their left. "C'mon," he said "It's in here."

They followed him into a Payless Shoes store. He led them around the small corner into the restroom area. Besides the doors to the ladies and gentleman's rooms, there was one marked EMPLOYEES ONLY. Nothing was too unusual about it. But Jonah turned to them, pointing at it.

"This is the door to the Ley. Most Muggles don't even see this door, and if they do they usually won't come in. All the employees in this shoe store are wizards, so now you know what will happen to you if you flunk out or get expelled. Okay, so we still got everyone? Good."

He stepped inside. They exchanged glances and then followed him.

Matthias looked around, taking another sip of his pop. He was busy people watching, which was one of his favorite things to do, although he did occasionally get told off for staring.

It was fun to look at people and figure out things about them, like what they did for a living and how they knew the other people in their group. Mall of America was a great place for it, especially in the Ley. Sometimes he would take notes or sketch. Today, however, he was just observing.

He heard a sound from the wall of the Ley that other parties had poetically described as "an ostrich puking up a coupl'a live frogs", which was the signal that someone had entered.

He looked over in time to see a group of four people entering. One man who he had seen before, and three kids about his own age. He leaned over to get a better look. He had seen the man before; he came to the Ley frequently. He worked in Muggle relations and his name was. . .Joe? Nah, it was more unusual than that. . . One the boys looked very much like Joe, with the same sturdy build, permanent grin, and very black hair.

_His brother? Cousin? Son, even? Nah, the kid's too old for that, he's my age,_ Matthias mused. He looked at the next boy. He was taller and skinnier than the first, with sharper facial features, but did bear a vague resemblance to Joe. He debated to himself whether or not he was related to them, looking for the telltale black hair, but no, the boy's was cut too short to really tell.

Putting that question on hold he looked at the girl. He discarded that she was of any relation to the others immediately. She looked nothing like them, exepting that she, like them, had only one head and two eyes. Plus, the way she stared agape at everything around her testified the fact that she was Muggleborn.

He smiled vaguely. He supposed that the place _would_ appear strange to someone who had never seen it before. Up here, there was just the entrance and, off to the right, the nearly Muggle-looking café where he was sitting. But then you looked down the two stories of gigantic stairs that lead away, and you saw the Ley.

The walking space stretched from left to right, as long as several dozen football fields and about as wide as one. In it milled an enormous crowd of people, a few of whom were obviously hags or vampires, and others who were normal witches and wizards dressed in very bizarre combinations of Muggle clothing.

Then there were the stores. They, to start with, had unusual signs advertising them. Some flashed different colors, or had script that moved, which a Muggleborn might not find _too_ unusual, as Muggles could nowadays make similar things. The signs that talked, however, were uniquely wizard. Some simply shouted slogans, others (which Matthias knew were much more expensive) had shop mascots painted on them who could see and hear, and spoke to passersby. They were clever enough to carry on an intelligent conversation, Matthias knew, because he had done it once. His father had pulled him aside afterwards, scolding him with the age-old maxim '_Never trust something that can think for itself, if you can't see where it keeps its brain_.' Needless to say, Mr. Argon refused to consider getting one for his own shop.

Some stores were right on the ground, but more were stacked on top of them, three stories deep. There were no stairs leading to their entrances. People would Apparate there, or would Floo in using the large fireplaces that were set periodically along the walls. A few zoomed along from store to store on broomstick, but not many, as it was more trouble than it was worth to try getting brooms into the Ley without the Muggles noticing.

This all saying nothing of the wares these stores sold. A Muggleborn would never have seen _any_ of them before, not even the kinds of things that most of magickind would take for granted. And in a place as diverse as the Ley, a grown pureblooded wizard could still find things that surprised him.

Yes, all in all, the Ley was an amazing place. The only places he knew of that could even begin to compare were Diagon Alley in Britin and the Mercado Magia in Mexico. Sure, there were small shops scattered everywhere that there were wizards, but none were quite like this.

He halted his rambling thoughts and looked up from his Sierra Mist, but the group was long gone.

Hello, everyone! Kala here. Many thanks to Miss Piratess, MyOwnLittleWorld, Briana Rose, Spasdomic dust bunny, Sarah29, and LNLisa for their constructive reviews. You have motivated me to write faster and helped me to do better. Thank you!

A few people commented on my theory. Well, Squibs would be people concieved without the ability to absorb magic. It's a little iffy wiith either theory, obviously. As for Petunia, I suspect, based on interviews I've found with J.K.Rowling, that she actually has magic ability, but chose not to go to Hogwarts and become a 'freak'

Well, according to my crappy pocket-translater, Mercado Magia is Spanish for 'magical market'. If anyone speaks more than a dozen words in Spanish and would like to correct me, please do.

I'm starting high school after Labor Day, and I expect updates to become much less regular. . . I'm going to be BUSY! And I had to end on a chapter that does nothing siigniificant for the plot, too. . . Next chapter 'the Epsilon thingy' should be explaned, they will get thier wands, and be on their way to school.

PLEASE REVIEW!!!


	4. Off to school!

"Robes first, I think,"

"Why not wands?"

"Because I don't want you three hexing me"

"_Honestly_, why not."

"If we get them last, that will be motivation to finish the shopping trip as soon as possible."

"Damn."

"Don't swear."

Troy, whose hyperness had not worn off, was still bugging Jonah about getting wands. He pouted as they walked into Nackledirk's Robes. Everyone just ignored him.

"You're all in Epsilon, right?" Jonah inquired.

"Yeah. . ." Ro said slowly. Then: "Sorry, but I still don't understand what that means."

"Oh!" said Jonah "I never _did_ explain that, did I? Well, the school is divided into five parts, each part being named after a Greek letter; Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, and Epsilon. The system is based loosely on the Hogwarts system of houses. . .

"What the heck is Hogwarts?"

"It's a British school of magic. However, while Hogwarts students are sorted according to whether they are kind, brave, clever, ambitious, and so on, the Lake Superior system is arbitrary." He paused "Well, there _is_ supposed to be a process to it, but fewer people know what that process is than know if the Department of Mysteries has actually created a portal to the netherworld. . . "

"A portal to the netherworld?"

"Just an urban legend. A wizard saying there's a gate to the netherworld in the Department of Mysteries is like a Muggle saying that there's UFOs hidden in a government bunker in Nevada." he shrugged. "Prob'ly doesn't exist."

They found the school uniform racks pretty easily; they were large, stuck right where everyone could see them, and sat under a tacky, garishly-colored sign announcing a BACK TO SCOOL SALE.

They each rifted through and pulled out three or four sets. It wasn't tough to find the right type; there were only four sizes to chose from, and no major differences in style.

Ro examined one of her robes. It looked pretty plain, as the clothing in this store went. It had a small badge with a weird _e_ over the heart, and the trim around the sleeves and neck was blue.

"I've found mine," declared Troy.

"Me too.'

"Me three. Let's hurry up!"

Three hours later, they were finally making their way into the wand shop. As soon as they were inside, a teenaged witch began to hurry towards them.

The four grimaced collectively. This had to be one of those big-time stores. In the Ley, it was easy to tell the difference between local shops and chain stores by the type of staff that ran them. Small places were invariably run by their owners, usually slightly eccentric old men. Larger stores employed the most preppy young witches they could find. Both types had the capacity to irritate the pants off of customers, but after shopping all day, the group had agreed that ditzy sales-helpers were more annoying than no help at all.

" Hi, like, can I _help_ you?" she asked cheerfully. Jonah realized with a silent laugh that she looked very much like the woman he had pictured his supervisor asking about wands in Target. . .

"These three need their first wands." he informed her. "Have fun, you guys!" He winked cheekily.

"Like, that is so _cool _for you guys!" She began pulling a few wands off the shelves. "Like, do you wanna go first?" she said to Troy, who was nearest to her. Troy nodded, albeit less enthusiastically than anyone who had listened to him all day would expect.

"This one's oak and unicorn hair, it's like, nine and a half inches long." Troy waved it, and lit a section of the carpeting on fire. Barbie shrieked. Troy ran and stamped out the flames.

She handed him another one. "It's like, holly and dragon heartstring, thirteen inches. T_ry_ it!" He swished it around. It did absolutely nothing. She snatched it away.

"Maple and phoenix feather, it's fourteen inches." Troy took it, and almost as soon as he held it, it began to shoot bluish sparks.

"You have so found your wand!" she squealed. "It's not bad for, you know, healing charms and stuff? If you, like, end up wanting to be, like, a Healer. Or something."

Lee went next, and he fitted the first wand he tried. It was mahogany and dragon heartstring, eight and one quarter inches long.

"Awesome!" she said happily. "We got a match! And, like, on the first try!"

Lee smirked, and rolled his eyes at her as soon as she turned her back.

Ro began testing wands. None of them seemed to react to her in the least. She rejected ebony and dragon heartstring, red pine and unicorn hair, cypress and phoenix feather, willow and unicorn hair, and chestnut and unicorn hair, each in turn.

Finally, when she gripped a wand of birch and phoenix feather, it began emitting bright sparkles.

"Cool!" cheered Barbie. "That's, like, a _different_ combination, if ya know what I mean, but it's so _you_." She began to gather up the discarded wands. "Those are ten Galleons each."

"_Ten_ Galleons?" Jonah questioned, puzzled. "That's a price jump, isn't it?"

Barbie scowled, which looked a little scary. "Ye-_ah_. There've been, like, new laws passed since, you know, those Cheapsparks losers. It makes wandmaking take, like, a lot longer? So prices have to go up, so they can like, still make money?"

"Cheapsparks? What are you talking about?" Ro asked.

Barbie rolled her eyes a little. "A year ago, this loser-company called Cheapsparks? Started selling wands for like, a few Sickles. People totally loved them, because they were, like, so less spendy and did stuff just as well, for like, a while. After a month or something, the core would, like, start to, you know, rot, so the wands were like, dangerous? Some people got hurt like, _so bad_, the company got _sued_, and peeps made lots of laws so, like, nobody would get ripped off? But those laws, like, _so_ make it suck for honest companies."

"Oh. . ." was all Ro could think of to say.

"Well," yawned Jonah, after a minute. "It's time to head home now, I think. Pay for your wands and we'll be gone."

Matthias fidgeted nervously. He mentally ran down the checklist of things that he needed, assuring himself that they were all there.

He let out an exasperated breath. The past three weeks had flown, so why was this half-hour dragging itself out? It was driving him insane. He scratched the back of his head. Why was the owl _taking_ so long?

"Antsy, Matthias?" asked his father. "Don't worry, you'll do _fine_ at school. I know you will."

He nodded but did not reply, fixedly staring out the large paned window. After what seemed like forever, he spied an owl making its way the drizzle outside. He let it in once it reached the house, and it landed with a loud_ wumph! _on the hardwood floor, leaving a puddle where it had touched down.

He grabbed at the sopping envelope, which fell apart in his hands. Inside was a small plastic disc with a time written on it. 11:53 AM. It was eleven-fifty now.

Mr. Argon embraced his son briefly. "Good luck, Matthias. Your mom would be proud of you."

Matthias swallowed and nodded. "I'll see you at Christmas, Dad." He grabbed his things, and waited to feel the Portkey to tug him into an unknown world.

Alright! Sorry that this took so long, but I've been waiting for this to get back from the beta for a long time, and I finally decided to post it without it being beta'd. Former chapters are being edited slightly, and should be up soon. Thank you for being patient with me!

Crossbow: Thank you! You rock. And the lack of breaks last chapter was not intentional; just screwed up. If the beta offer is still open, then I may take you up on it. . . my beta went mysteriously AWOL.

stubble96: I'm glad you like it.

Miss Piratess: Thank you! I'm glad you liked them- I worked hard at that.

Briana Rose: Thank you! And I'm having pretty good luck in high school. . . 

LNLisa: Thank you! (Heh, are you people sick of hearing that by now?) The jeep just wrote itself into the story with no planning on my part, but now I may have thought up a way to use it in the plot. . .

Once again, I really appreciate you all. Thank you especially for taking the time to leave specific comments in your reviews, it really helps me write. Hopefully, I'll be posting another chapter in less than two weeks. . . Seeya then!


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